The legacy of LeBron James is extending down the bloodline.

James’ basketball-playing son, Bronny, has signed a NIL (Name, likeness and image) deal before attending college. Underwear brand PSD has signed a new partnership deal with the high school standout. With this deal, Bronny becomes the youngest athlete entrepreneur to sign with PSD.

“I’ve been wearing PSD for as long as I can remember,” the younger James in a written statement.

“When the connection is real and authentic, it makes a partnership like this really exciting,” he added. “I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas and input to create some pretty unique pieces.”

Along with the partnership, James will get a signature collection with the underwear brand. PSD and its team of designers will work closely with the likely future NBA player to design the collection. James’ upcoming line will be available this spring at major retailers including Champs, Hibbetts, Snipes, and online at psdunderwear.com.

“It’s been fun to watch Bronny grow up wearing PSD, dating back to Mike Miller gifting them to his dad while they played together in Miami,” said Curt Flaitz, cofounder and president at PSD. “We love when partnerships unfold organically, and we look forward to continuing to build a great partnership with him.”

James joins a roster that includes Jimmy Butler, Ja Morant, Trae Young, Marshawn Lynch, Tyler Herro, and social media star Sommer Ray. PSD also has an expansive stable of top licenses that includes Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, DC, and Naruto.

LeBron has a history-making son for his son.

In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, James, whose current contract with the Los Angeles Lakers expires after next season, expressed his desire to play at least one season with Bronny.

“My last year will be played with my son,” LeBron said. “Wherever Bronny is at, that’s where I’ll be. I would do whatever it takes to play with my son for one year. It’s not about the money at that point.”

• Diversity, Equality, Inclusion

by Derek Major

February 25, 2022

President Biden Follows Through On Pledge, Nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson For Supreme Court

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President Joe Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court replacing retired Justice Stephen Breyer.

According to CNN, Jackson, 51, received and accepted Biden’s offer to join the high court Thursday night, setting off the confirmation process to make Jackson the first Black female Supreme Court Justice.

Jackson has a wealth of legal experience; She previously clerked for Breyer and served as a federal public defender, which Biden committed to during his election run. The Ivy League graduate also served as a commissioner on the US Sentencing Commission and was appointed to serve on the federal district court in DC by former President Barack Obama.

Last year, Biden elevated Jackson to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is widely viewed as the second most powerful court in the country.

Biden, a Democrat, pledged during his election campaign to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court if he gets a chance to fill a vacancy, which would be a historic first. Jackson is among the most prominent Black women in the federal judiciary and, at age 51 is also relatively young.

With conservatives holding a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, liberal activists have been urging the court’s eldest member, 82-year-old liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, to retire this year while Democrats control the Senate. A Harvard Law School graduate, Jackson early in her career served as one of Breyer’s law clerks at the Supreme Court.

Jackson is expected to face scrutiny by Judiciary Committee Republicans on her judicial record, which includes some high-profile rulings. Jackson, for example, in 2019 decided to let the Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary Committee subpoena former Republican President Donald Trump’s then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn. Her ruling was appealed and the case is ongoing.

Nominees can win confirmation to lifetime judicial appointments with a simple majority vote in the 100-seat Senate, which is currently split 50-50 between the parties and is controlled by Democrats because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote.

• News

by Atiya Jordan

February 25, 2022

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Set To Receive 2022 NAACP Image Award for ‘Social Justice’

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will receive the prestigious NAACP Image Award during the 53rd annual ceremony.

The honor, recognizing notable achievement and distinguished public service, will be announced at the celebratory event airing live on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 8 p.m. on BET. Previous honorees include Muhammad Ali, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, LeBron James, Whitney Houston, Rihanna, and Jay-Z.

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“It’s a true honor to be recognized by President Derrick Johnson and the NAACP, whose efforts to propel racial justice and civil rights are as vital today as they were nearly 115 years ago,” said the couple in a statement, according to Variety.

“We’re thrilled to present this award to Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who together have heeded the call to social justice and have joined the struggle for equity both in the U.S. and around the world,” added Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also announced that they’ve partnered with the NAACP to establish a new distinction—the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award—supported by their global nonprofit Archewell Foundation and overseen by the NAACP. The annual award will recognize leaders who promote transformational change at the intersection of social justice and technology and push efforts to advance civil and human rights in the digital space. Awardees will receive a $100,000 stipend to advance new work and continue to make an impact.

“Not only do they continue to lead by example, the Duke and Duchess have also decided to inspire the next generation of activists through the NAACP-Archewell Digital Civil Rights Award, ensuring the support and recognition of generations of civil rights leaders to come, Johnson continued.

The first recipient of the award will be Dr. Safiya Noble, an author and internet studies scholar who teaches Gender Studies and African American Studies as a professor at UCLA. She also serves as the co-founder and faculty director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2), a partner to the Archewell Foundation.

The star-studded show will include a performance by Mary J. Blige and appearances by Issa Rae, Kerry Washington, LL Cool J, Samuel L. Jackson, Tiffany Haddish, Zendaya, and more.

Another win for the Sanders family!

Shelomi Sanders, daughter of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, has committed to joining her father at Jackson State University, the Clarion-Ledger reports. The 18-year-old basketball player will attend the HBCU along with her siblings Shedeur and Shilo.

The 5 foot 7-inch guard, who currently attends Rockwall-Heath High School in Texas, made the announcement on her Instagram account earlier this week.

 

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Like a proud father, Coach Prime acknowledged the achievement on his Instagram account.

“When I tell u GOD is Good GOD is Good! My young daughter @shelomisanders has committed to play basketball for the Back 2 Back Swac Champions @gojsutigerswbb ! @coachtomekiareed I love ya, appreciate u and TRUST u with my baby girl. Teach her, Challenge her , Develop her to be the best she can be on and off the court. God is so good. 3 kids on campus! @shilosanders @shedeursanders & now @shelomisanders THIS IS WHAT I CALL CHILD SUPPORT😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂💯💯💯💯💯🏀🏀🏀🏀🏀! #Daddy #CoachPrime @smacentertainment“

 

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The Sanders family, as well as Jackson State University, has a lot to be proud of.

Deion won the FCS coach of the year after taking the football team to the Celebration Bowl, although the team lost, it was the first time it made it all the way to the championship. Meanwhile, his starting quarterback son, Shedeur,  was named FCS freshman of the year as he led Jackson State to its first SWAC title since 2007. His brother, Shilo, a junior this upcoming season, and a defensive back for the football team, led the Tigers in interceptions.

The Lady Tigers basketball team is currently 16-6 and enjoying a 14-game winning streak. If the Lady Tigers win their next four games, it will end the regular season with a perfect conference record.

• Lifestyle

by Cedric 'BIG CED' Thornton

February 25, 2022

Albums From Tupac and Dr. Dre Not Included in Snoop Dogg’s Death Row Records Deal

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Snoop Dogg‘s recent acquisition of Death Row won’t include some major albums from the catalog.

According to Complex, albums from Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre are not included in the recent purchase of the Death Row label by Snoop Dogg.  Shakur’s albums All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory are “no longer on the label” as of last month. Also, The Chronic by Dr. Dre is not included but is reportedly slated to be back on the label as early as next year.

According to a report by Billboard, sources claim those albums are still “being negotiated.” So, technically, the Tupac albums are still in possession of the MNRK Music Group and investment firm Blackstone.

Two weeks ago, Blackstone announced the iconic “Gin & Juice” rapper had acquired the Death Row Records brand and name from MNRK Music Group. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Snoop’s latest project, “B.O.D.R. (Bacc on Death Row),” was just released February 11.

Snoop Dogg wants to convert Death Row Records into the first NFT record label.

According to Fortune, the “What’s My Name?” rapper announced the plan during a discussion on Clubhouse. Snoop began his music career recording for Death Row Records, started by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight.

“Death Row will be an NFT label,” said Snoop.

“We will be putting out artists through the metaverse. Just like we broke the industry when we was the first independent to be major, we want to be the first major in the metaverse.”

Snoop is no stranger to the NFT game. In September, he disclosed that he had been compiling the digital tokens under the alias Cozomo de’ Medici. Snoop amassed approximately $17 million in NFT holdings.

Snoop was a featured artist at Super Bowl’s halftime show along with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, and Anderson .Paak.

Kevin Liles’ focus wasn’t always on music. There was a time when he never thought about music outside of hearing it on the radio. That is until he heard one song.

“I never wanted to be in the music business or do anything around music because I was into sports,” Liles tells BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I’m not saying I didn’t listen to music or love music, I’m saying I wasn’t thinking about the music business.

“It wasn’t until I heard Run-DMC’s ‘Sucker MC’s,'” Liles added. “I lost my mind when I heard that. I never heard something that could be so hard yet so fashionable. I couldn’t believe that a record could speak to you that way when I heard that I thought ‘what’s this about?'”

After that Liles was hooked and thus began a four-decade career in the music industry, where he has held a number of top posts in the industry, including DJ and artist. The music exec has worked with some of the first legends of hip-hop including  LL Cool J, Run DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, and Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff.

With 40 years in the industry, Liles knows the industry back and forth, but he tells BLACK ENTERPRISE there’s so much more he wants and needs to learn inside and outside the industry.

“I’ve lived through the eight-tracks to cassettes to CDs. MP3s, the download, and now this thing called streaming,” Liles said.

“I’ve lived through platform changes, substance changes, and from purchasing music in stores to now being able to buy music 24 hours 7 days a week. So how can you tell someone what the greatest lesson you learned is when you’re still learning and you’re still living?

“Like I said, this wasn’t something I went to school for, I went to college for electrical engineering, this found me. So I feel like I owe my life to it so I don’t go to work every day, I wake up and live every day,” Liles adds.

Liles and his partners, Lyor Cohen and Roger Gold, recently celebrated the sale of their label, 300 Entertainment, which includes some of the best rap artists: Tee Grizzley, Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Fetty Wap. But that doesn’t mean he’s going anywhere.

Liles will serve as chairman and CEO for 300 and Elektra Music Group. Elektra Music Group will still be led by co-presidents Mike Easterlin and Gregg Nadel, who will report to Liles. The CEO says one of the reasons he started the label with partners Cohen and Gold is they didn’t like what the landscape turned into.

“My partners, Lyor and Roger, we’ve done it every which way and we felt that the record labels we’re starting to lose what art was about,” Lies tells BLACK ENTERPRISE. “They started to just be the Smithsonian Institute just be the establishment, they’re not going to the street corners and helping that  LL or that Run-DMC or that Jay-Z , finding and going to where they were and helping them tell their story.

“So we just found an opportunity to have fun again and take it back to the days where the artists are not a collection of records, they were human beings. They knew your mother, you knew their birthday and we knew your situation at home. We didn’t just listen to the albums in a listening session, we were there discussing the album, we talked about it and we just felt that was missing.”

• Health and Wellness

by Kia Morgan Smith

February 25, 2022

Black Women Fight Their Silent Killer, Heart Disease

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – After her mother and sister died within 30 days from heart disease, Stephanie Johnson made it her mission to fight against the killer often brought on by high blood pressure.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and the No. 1 killer of Black women, with an annual toll of nearly 50,000, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Nearly half of Black women aged over 20 have heart disease, but most are unaware of the risks.

Johnson created Release the Pressure (RTP), a coalition to raise awareness among Black women.

“African Americans, Black Americans are 30% more likely to die from heart disease than non-Hispanic whites,” said Johnson, American Medical Association’s vice president of communications and product strategies.

“High blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease because the heart is working harder,” explained Dr. Peggy Roberts, founder and chief executive of Trust Women’s Healthcare.

Stroke, heart attack, aneurysm and heart arrhythmia are major risks. Stress from racism can raise blood pressure.

“On top of all the social stressors that we have to deal with being Black in America, it’s too much,” Johnson said.

Nutritionist Coach Gessie Thompson, founder of TheDetoxNow.com, nearly died in 2020 after her blood pressure spiked from stress. She is providing digital heart health kits and helping with RTP’s goal to send out 100,000 free validated blood pressure cuffs to Black women by 2027.

Home testing can be more accurate than in a doctor’s office where nerves and other factors can skew a reading.

Despite years of headaches and multiple miscarriages, Nichola Hamilton, 38, only knew she had high blood pressure on her first visit with Dr. Roberts. She got a reading of 160 over 100. Less than 120 over 80 is considered normal but pressure above 130/80 requires focused treatment.

“It’s really important that we have the information as a community to be able to advocate for ourselves,” said Dr. Aletha Maybank, chief health equity officer and senior vice president of the American Medical Association.

(Reporting by Alicia Powell; Editing by Richard Chang and Diane Craft)

• Lifestyle

by Atiya Jordan

February 25, 2022

NFL Player Anthony Harris Steps In To Take Young Fan To Father-Daughter Dance

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For 11-year-old Audrey Soape, this year’s father-daughter dance at her local church in Pflugerville, Texas, was a bittersweet experience, but a ‘magical’ one.

Each year, the young girl would look forward to showing out and stepping on the dance floor with her father. But since his passing in March of last year, the dance wouldn’t be the same. Then just five weeks later, her grandfather, who would have had the honor to accompany her, also passed away.

“I knew with the dance coming up, it would be an emotional thing. It would be a disappointing thing not being able to go. She brought it up a few times, saying she wished she could go,” Audrey’s mother, Holly Soape, told CBS News.

She continued, “I knew that if she was going to go, that I wanted it to be something really incredible. Something that would just make her feel special and would make her feel loved and important. So I tried to think of the coolest thing that I could come up with.”

Soape decided to contact the family’s favorite NFL player, Anthony Harris, a Philadelphia Eagles safety. Although she thought it may have been a long shot, the two shared a friendly connection on Instagram since March 2020, thanks to her encouraging messages before games.

To her surprise, he agreed to fly to Texas from Florida, where he resides in the off-season, to take Audrey to the dance. Upon his arrival, Harris wanted to ensure that Audrey felt special. He bought her a new dress and a pair of shoes to wear to the father-daughter dance. He also arranged for her to get her makeup done.

“I was like super surprised. Like, more than I can explain surprised. And I was also like, really nervous,” Audrey said. “Probably more nervous than excited at the beginning because I didn’t know what I was going to say or do around him.”

Audrey felt more comfortable with Harris as he engaged with her at the dance despite the nervousness.

“It really kind of just changed the dialogue of the whole year. It was just this horrible, dark year that ended on this really, really positive note. And so it sort of gave us a little bit of joy and light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It was just a magical experience for everybody,” Soape said.

• Black Lives Matter

by Derek Major

February 25, 2022

Breonna Taylor’s Sister Thrown Out Of Court For Wearing A T-Shirt Demanding The Arrest Of The Officers Involved In Her Murder

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Breonna Taylor’s sister was ejected from court Wednesday for wearing a t-shirt demanding the arrest of the officers involved in her death.

Ju’Niyah Palmer told Law & Crime she was informed the shirt, which stated “Arrest the Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor,” was inappropriate and presented bias in front of the jury.

“I left because I just feel like they’re running around in circles about what really happened instead of actually really presenting why they’re there,” Palmer told Law & Crime, voicing her frustration with Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s refusal to charge any of the officers with Taylor’s death.

Palmer was ejected from the trial of former Kentucky police officer Brett Hankison, who fired 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment. Hankison was fired for his role in the shooting and charged with three counts of wanton endangerment.

Taylor’s next-door neighbor, Cody Etherton, who lived with his pregnant girlfriend and five-year-old son, testified in Hankison’s trial earlier this week that he woke up when police kicked in Taylor’s door. Etherton added when he heard the first shots fired, he hit the floor and crawled to the back of the bedroom telling his wife to do the same.

“When drywall started hitting me in the face, I already knew,” he said. “One or two inches more, I would have been shot, which I think about all the time. It upsets me — my son would never have been able to meet me.”

Hankison’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, argued the former cop was simply following his training.

“You’re taught to shoot until the threat is stopped,” Mathews said. “You’re obligated to defend yourself, your other officers, and citizens.”

Hankison is set to testify in the trial and the jury will go on a tour of the apartments Friday.

Taylor was killed the night of March 13, 2020, when she and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were sleeping and police serving a no-knock warrant kicked in their door. The couple thought burglars were trying to break in and Walker, a registered gun owner, fired one shot at the officers, who returned with more than 30 shots killing Taylor.

• Technology

by Black Enterprise Shop

February 25, 2022

Turn Your Laptop Into A Productivity Powerhouse

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The ability to own multiple mobile devices has made life easier for nearly everyone. While more mobile devices mean more opportunities, it also means there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself seeking more power for your batteries and more USB ports to transfer and upload data.

As long as you have a laptop, you can lessen the load with the CASA HUB A09 USB-C 3.1 Gen 2, 9-in-1 Hub. For a limited time, you can purchase this all-in-one powerhouse for just $99. That’s a savings of 16% from its MSRP ($119).

With the CASA HUB, you’ll be able to turn your laptop into a productivity powerhouse through its nine ports. Never worry about running out of power again, thanks to its USB-C input that supports maximum power delivery of 100W for fast charging.

There’s another USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 input that packs enough power that you can quickly transfer a 10GB 4K movie in just 10 seconds. The two USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 outputs enable high-speed transfers up to 10 gigabytes per second for double the efficiency. Transfer files up to 480 megabytes per second through the USB-A 2.0 port.

Two video ports allow for high-quality viewing. The first is through a VGA output that offers incredible 1080p 60Hz max resolution, while the HDMI port offers 4K 30Hz max resolution.

This hub also serves as a storage boost, via SD and microSD card slots. Despite the power this device packs, you won’t have to worry about it overheating, as it comes with improved heat dissipation that implements the latest cooling materials. It’s all protected with an aluminum casing that minimizes electromagnetic interference.

CASA HUB is compatible with macOS, iPad OS, Windows OS, Chrome OS, and Linux devices. Never worry about running out of power or looking for a port to upload data and purchase this all-encompassing device today for $99.

Prices subject to change.